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Kotaku Off Topic: Follow Friday
Welcome to the weekend, Kotaku Off Topic followers. It’s Friday night, Kotaku time, and having just got paid—let’s just assume—we’re sure you’re just ready to cut loose with some on or off topic talk. Since the Twitter tradition is to suggest people of interest to follow their every move, and since I spent plenty of…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Kitase: FFVII Remake Only Possible If It Can Be Done In A Year
Final Fantasy XIII releases in less than three weeks, but people still can’t stop pining for Final Fantasy VII, released XIII years ago. But Yoshinori Kitase, answering hypothetically, said a remake by modern standards might take XIV years to make. Speaking to TechDigest, Kitase, the producer of Final Fantasy XIII (and director of VII) said…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight Hands On: A Less Cheesy Three-way Dip
There will be no celebrity cameos, no professional wrestlers tackling men in bear costumes anywhere in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, the planned final chapter in EA’s real-time strategy Tiberium saga. But there will be plenty of Kane. While thousands of gamers were playing the long-anticipated StarCraft II beta earlier this week, we were…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
The Day Gamers Took Over Reselling: Epilogue
Last week, I wrote about Glyde, the reseller flooded by gamers at its November launch. Because of Glyde’s shipping model, the time required for delivery and payment seemed to be a drawback. So how’d Glyde do with a real sale? Not bad, all things considered. Last Thursday at 3:40 p.m., someone bought my copy of…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 - Reviews
Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery Micro-Review: Worth Discovering?
Once again, Assassin’s Creed vaults from the home console to the portable platform with the iPhone spin-off Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery, starring the second game’s Ezio de Auditore as he travels to Spain. Guide Ezio from platform to platform with touchscreen controls as he attempts to rescue his fellow assassin’s from the Inquisition and uncover…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Venture Capital Backs Off, and Boston Development Suffers
Venture capital investments in U.S. video game efforts dropped by more than $60 million from 2008 to 2009, of particular concern to developers in strong but outlying areas such as Boston. The Boston Globe reported today on the beatdown dealt to game development reliant on venture capital. In 2008, 35 projects were funded at a…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Review Round-Up: Week Over, Man! Week Over!!
Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen, because this week’s batch of original Kotaku reviews is in the pipe, five by five. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but hey, we reviewed Aliens Vs. Predator this week. We also reviewed all of the following games, some of which involve guns, plus one movie…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Atari’s Missile Command Bound For The Big Screen?
Missile Command rights holder Atari is banking on Hollywood’s creatively bankrupt studios to warm to a movie based on the 30-year-old trackball game in which missiles are commanded and cities are saved. The LA Times reports that Atari is in “active discussions with studios” to option the rights to Missile Command as a film, hinting…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
In Turn Two It’s Yoshi, Waluigi and Logano …
After a week in which potholes played havoc with the Daytona 500 field, now it looks like Joey Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Toyota team are gonna rain shells and bananas on Fontana in the next Nationwide Series race. That right there is the Mario Kart Wii paint scheme Logano will be sporting in…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
A Dog’s Tail
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Why Is Time Moving So Quickly, Can You Make It Stop, Gee Thanks Did you ever watch the old Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther flicks? I used to love them when I was a kid. One of my favorite reoccurring characters in the movie, besides Sellers, was Cato Fong. Remember him?…
By Brian Crecente Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
New PSPgo Owners Get Assassin’s Creed or LittleBigPlanet Free*
Are you ready to take the digital download-only plunge? If so, Sony will reward new PSPgo owners with one of two free games, handing out a complementary copy of either the portable port of LittleBigPlanet or Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines. That’s $39.99 USD worth of game, which might make the $249.99 USD asking price of Sony’s…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
All-Star Week Expands in MLB 10 The Show
Home run derbies have been a standalone mode of baseball sims for years. This video shows that MLB 10 The Show will incorporate the All-Star Home Run Derby into its long-term play modes, as well as the All-Star Futures game. Writing on the Playstation.Blog, designer Aaron Luke says the Sony San Diego team set out…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Does Just Cause 2 Even Need A Story?
When you can tie a man to the back of a fighter jet and take to the sky with him screaming behind you, does your game really need a plot? Developer Avalanche is obviously trying too hard. There is really no need for you to have a compelling narrative in a game where I can…
By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Japan’s Hardware War Feeling A Little Too Comfortable
The Japanese hardware market has found a groove, the PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS platform continuing to dominate that charts, the PSPgo untouchable in its abilities to hold tightly onto last place. This week’s tally of winners and losers in the Japanese console war looks remarkably like last week’s (and the week before), making hardware…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
There Are No Free Rides In Free Realms
Sony Online Entertainment continues to add everything you could ever want to its free-to-play MMO Free Realms, with the addition of dragon and dinosaur mounts, now on sale in the in-game marketplace. Free Realms is free, but only to a certain extent. If you want the coolest jobs, nicest gear, and the newly-introduced ride-able dragons…
By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Borderlands Creator Wanted Me To Pick A Card, Any Card
Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox Software, makes games and performs magic. On the red carpet for the awards out here at DICE, I asked Pitchford to show me a trick. He happened to have a deck of cards. Of course!
By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
Zombies are trying to eat me and my neighbors, an attack that I’ll be fending off with various plants, seeds and fungi this weekend. That’s right. It’s Plants Vs. Zombies time. On my iPhone! I’ve been playing the iPhone port of PopCap’s brilliant “tower defense” strategy game for the past couple days, a trend I…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
This Week’s Top Five Hotter-than-Hades Stories
It’s Friday and it’s time for the top 5 hottest Kotaku stories of the week. Warning: reading them may scorch eyebrows, eyelashes, and/or facial hair. Brought to you by Dante’s Inferno. In stores now. Read ’em and burn after the jump. 1. New Final Fantasy XIII Screens Let You Compare Xbox 360, PS3 – 104,596…
By Gawkercreative Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
Preorder Final Fantasy XIII’s Epic Soundtrack
If you impatiently imported the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII’s soundtrack from Japan, you might want to start kicking yourself now, as preorders open for the four-disc set in Square Enix’s North American online store. I have to admit I was extremely close to paying an additional $15 for the 85-track Final Fantasy XIII…
By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2010 - Uncategorized
My Silliest Interview Of The Week
I worked the red carpet for the Interactive Achievement Awards yesterday, doing my best not to ask the gaming luminaries who walked by what they were wearing. Silly mini-interviews can happen at these things. Such as this one: David Adams and Tim Campbell of Vigil Games walked up to me. Their studio made Darksiders. I’m…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 19, 2010